Final section of Confederate monument removed from Raleigh
RALEIGH, N.C. — Crews in North Carolina have finished removing the final pieces of a 75-foot-tall Confederate monument that sat near the grounds of the state Capitol for 125 years. The granite pillar that had supported a statue of a Confederate soldier was pulled from its base in Raleigh to...
Trump’s brother sues over niece’s book about ‘toxic’ family
President Donald Trump’s brother sued to block publication of a book by their niece Mary Trump, saying portions of the memoir violate confidentiality provisions of a settlement reached among family members almost two decades ago in a fight over money. Robert S. Trump filed the complaint Tuesday in state court...
Floyd’s death was a ‘murder,’ not about lack of training, Minneapolis police chief says
MINNEAPOLIS — Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao — two of the officers involved in killing George Floyd May 25 — both took department training on preventing suffocation in people being restrained face down, the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed. In one of his most forceful comments yet on Floyd’s killing, Minneapolis...
Rayshard Brooks laid to rest after emotional Atlanta funeral service
ATLANTA — Standing in the spiritual spot that her father, grandfather and great-grandfather preached, Bernice King ticked off a list of names that have recently and tragically become all too familiar. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. And finally, the name of the man of whose casket she preached over...
Police: Woman deliberately coughs on baby in San Jose yogurt shop line
San Jose police are reportedly looking for a woman who they say intentionally coughed on a baby several times while standing in line at a frozen yogurt shop. Police are seeking the woman on suspicion of assault in the Friday afternoon incident. Video shows the woman pulled down her face...
Mitch McConnell wins GOP nomination in bid for 7th term
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cruised to the Republican nomination Tuesday night in pursuit of a seventh term, but his general election challenger might not be known for days as Kentucky awaits the outcome of a competitive Democratic primary. McConnell, the nation’s top-ranking congressional Republican, dispatched a...
Charleston votes to remove statue of slavery advocate
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Officials in the historic South Carolina city of Charleston voted unanimously Tuesday to remove a statue of former vice president and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun from a downtown square, the latest in a wave of actions arising from protests against racism and police brutality against African...
Police officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting fired
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Metro police department has fired one of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, more than three months after the 26-year-old black woman was killed in her home. A termination letter sent to Officer Brett Hankison released by the city’s police...
Trump’s pick defeated in North Carolina GOP House primary
RALEIGH, N.C. — A 24-year-old real estate investment CEO won Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff for a western North Carolina congressional seat over President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate for the nomination. Madison Cawthorn handily defeated Lynda Bennett to complete an upset for the GOP nomination in the 11th Congressional District. Bennett...
Powerful earthquake shakes southern, central Mexico
MEXICO CITY — A powerful earthquake centered near the resort of Huatulco in southern Mexico swayed buildings Tuesday in Mexico City and sent thousands into the streets. Seismic alarms sounded midmorning with enough warning for residents to exit buildings. Power was knocked out to some areas, but there were no...
Bill Cosby granted appeal in Pennsylvania sex assault case
PHILADELPHIA — In a stunning decision that could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases, comedian Bill Cosby has won the right to fight his 2018 sexual assault conviction in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The 82-year-old Cosby has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury...
Allegheny County leads state in mail-in balloting; more expected in November
Faced with the coronavirus pandemic and the prospect of long lines at sharply reduced polling places, Allegheny County voters led the state in embracing Pennsylvania’s new mail-in voting option. A new report by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania found nearly one in three Allegheny County voters requested a mail-in ballot...
2nd presidential debate moves from Michigan to Florida
The nonpartisan commission that sponsors the formal election year presidential debates announced Tuesday that an October debate that had been set for Michigan will now take place in Florida. The change comes after the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, determined it was no longer “feasible” to host the Oct. 15...
AP-NORC poll: Nearly all in U.S. back criminal justice reform
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans overwhelmingly want clear standards on when police officers may use force and consequences for officers who do so excessively, according to a new poll that finds nearly all Americans favor at least some level of change to the nation’s criminal justice system. The new poll from...
After Tulsa, Trump heads to virus hotspot Arizona and border
WASHINGTON — Regrouping after a humbling weekend rally, President Donald Trump faces another test of his ability to draw a crowd during a pandemic Tuesday as he visits Arizona and tries to remind voters of one of his key 2016 campaign promises. Trump’s weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was meant...
Fauci hopeful for a vaccine by late 2020, early 2021
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, but warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country. Fauci and other top health...
Gov. Greg Abbott urges masks but no new steps as coronavirus cases rise in TexasVideo
AUSTIN — Texas’ surging coronavirus numbers will not slow the state’s reopening as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday instead prescribed an emphasis on face coverings and social distancing to curtail sobering trends, including hospitalization rates that have doubled since Memorial Day. Abbott did not announce any new measures to...
Disney World workers start petition urging theme park to delay reopening
ORLANDO, Fla. — Some Disney World workers are pleading with theme park executives to reconsider plans to reopen in July, following days of record-number cases of covid-19 infections that have pushed the statewide total past 100,000. Reopening would mean bringing back tens of thousands of workers who were furloughed April...
Recreational pot laws may boost traffic deaths, studies find
Laws legalizing recreational marijuana may lead to more traffic deaths, two new studies suggest, although questions remain about how they might influence driving habits. Previous research has had mixed results and the new studies, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, can’t prove that the traffic death increases they found were...
Army soldier charged in plot to ambush his unit overseas
NEW YORK — The new top federal prosecutor in Manhattan on Monday announced her first case since the weekend’s upheaval: the arrest of a U.S. Army soldier charged with plotting a deadly ambush of his unit in Turkey by extremists. In a release, Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss called Private...
U.S. warns against Mexican sanitizer gel containing methanol
MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about a Mexican-made hand sanitizer gel that it said is dangerous because it contains large amounts of poisonous methanol, or wood alcohol. The FDA said the methanol “can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested,”...
Saudi Arabia to hold ‘very limited’ hajj because of coronavirus
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that because of coronavirus only “very limited numbers” of people will be allowed to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage that traditionally draws around 2 million Muslims from around the world. The decision comes after weeks of speculation over whether Saudi Arabia would cancel the pilgrimage altogether...
U.S. moves to restrict Chinese media outlets as ‘propaganda’
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Monday that it is designating the U.S. operations of four Chinese media outlets as “foreign missions” in an action that could force some of their journalists to leave the country and further worsen diplomatic relations. State Department officials said the four organizations are essentially...
Trump administration extends visa ban to non-immigrantsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday extended a ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and added many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by technology companies and multinational corporations. The administration cast the effort as a...
Ohio police investigating claim man with disabilities macedVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio’s capital city are investigating claims that officers maced a man with disabilities during a rally this weekend, the mayor said Monday. A viral video shows a man with prosthetic legs curled on the sidewalk as passers-by care for him and call for medical help....
